Hairy broom
Genista hirsuta
Family · Fabaceae · Irritating
The spiny hairy broom that dominates southwestern Iberian scrub, covered in yellow flowers in dense spikes in spring. It is the plant that turns an Alentejo slope yellow in May.
Scrubland · Montado · Uplands · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known ashairy genista
How to tell it
Branched rigid spines, and the whole plant covered in long white hairs, which separates it from all the gorses. Yellow flowers in tight spikes at branch tips. Hairy pods.
What it is confused with
Small-flowered gorse
Ulex parviflorus
Run a careful hand over it and look at the hairs: this is clearly hairy with branched spines; small-flowered gorse is smooth with simple spines. Both prick.
What it is for
Firewood and livestock bedding in the past. Today it counts as fire load and as ground cover on degraded slopes.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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